HC contempt notice to 2 officers on Khemka plea

On a petition by Haryana-cadre senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka about mala fide intent in not considering his application for the allotment of a plot in the serving-employee category, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday issued the contempt of court notice to the estate officers of Bahadurgarh and Palwal in Haryana.

On a petition by Haryana-cadre senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka about mala fide intent in not considering his application for the allotment of a plot in the serving-employee category, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday issued the contempt of court notice to the estate officers of Bahadurgarh and Palwal in Haryana.

Khemka is in the limelight for cancelling the mutation of the 3.5-acre plot at Shikohpur village in Gurgaon, sold by Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to DLF in 2008.

Alleging serious prejudice against him, Khemka submitted that he had applied for a 1-kanal plot of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) at Bahadurgarh and Palwal in the serving government employee category, but because of lapses on the part of authorities concerned, his case was put in the general category.

On Friday, a division bench led by justice Jasbir Singh issued the contempt notice to the estate officers for feeding misleading information to the authorities concerned that Khemka had not applied for the plot in the serving-employee category. The bench summoned the entire case record and directed the officers concerned to take steps to rectify the mistake.

The Haryana government counsel submitted that two plots, one at Bahadurgarh and another at Palwal, were still vacant for serving employees. On October 6, the high court had observed that Chander Parkash, HUDA administrator at Rohtak, had submitted an affidavit that included averments not confirming with the official record, and then issued him a show-cause contempt notice.

Parkash was also directed to remain present in the court on Friday. However, on Friday, he submitted that he had filed the affidavit on the basis of information from the two estate officers. Khemka had applied for the 1-kanal plots in Faridabad, Bahadurgarh, and Palwal fulfilling terms in the brochure issued by HUDA on November 6, 2009, inviting applications for the plots. His application in Faridabad was considered against the reserved category of serving employees.

Khemka had approached the high court, seeking directions for the allotment of 1-kanal plot at either Sector 2 in Bahadurgarh or Sector 2 in Palwal. The next hearing is on November 9.